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Good boss acts like a conductor
By Greg Cusack |
January 5, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
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DEAR Mr Ni Tao:
I enjoyed your thoughtful commentary in Shanghai Daily of December 28, titled "Values Crucial to EMBA Studies."
Like all of your articles which I have read to date, this was a lucid and very well presented piece. I found the information Ms Zhao Lijia shared with you quite informative. I particularly liked her comments about what managers needed to do to retain quality employees, such as having a good "incentive package."
You quoted her as saying, "I learned from the course that people's desire grows incrementally. Desire won't stop at higher salaries." Precisely.
Despite our different cultures, we have in common our human nature. The best kind of work, from both the Christian and Marxist perspective, is regarded as a extension of self, as offering an opportunity for each person to add value through creative labor (mental as well as physical).
The best employees are not persons whose primary motivation is ever-higher salaries, although all persons desire (and deserve) just wages which grow appropriately over time. Rather, those employees who steadily seek to learn new skills, share collaboratively with others, and contribute to the larger mission of their enterprise are the ones to be sought out and retained.
I would like to share with you one of the greatest things I learned in my over two decades as a manager: the great value that employees can provide to how well a manager does his or her job! I made quite a few mistakes in my early years, basically because I entertained many misunderstandings of what my role actually should be.
These uncertainties, coupled with my anxiety to "perform well," led me to over-emphasize control and top-down thinking. Luckily, there were quite a few strong-willed persons under my nominal supervision who did not hesitate to offer their suggestions - often as strong criticisms - regarding "how I was doing."
It took me a while to really understand and to "get the message." But here is what I learned from them: The manager they needed (and, I think, the kind that most people want) is not a "controller."
Rather, the best manager is more like a symphony conductor, working with the employees to help adjust and balance the atmosphere of the workplace and the work itself. The best manager should respect each person for the distinct human being they are and realize that all really want to contribute and to feel valued.
Comradeship
As I really took these lessons to heart, our workplace became more infused with laughter and comradeship, and our efficiency and courtesy in delivering services to our members improved dramatically. Happy employees, who feel that they and their efforts are valued and appreciated, are great workers.
Before I left the public pension system when I retired in 2004, we had attained a No. 1 ranking in the United States (compared to other public pension plans, which all 50 US states have) when balancing the number of services we provided our members compared to our administrative costs per member. I am very proud of that, except that I did not accomplish this on my own - rather, my employees did.
Because of them, I became a coach, sometimes a cheerleader, and someone who was always leading them to compare "best practices" from elsewhere (including private businesses and other countries), so that we could steadily learn and improve.
From such collective efforts, collective, justifiable pride emerged. Any turnover among employees was due entirely to retirements or as a consequence of family units moving away from the capital city area.
I cannot adequately express the joy I had when I served with these wonderful people.
In too many instances here in the United States, management seems to be "all about" the top dog - whether governor, chief executive of a company, or manager of a work unit.
My culture, which over-emphasizes "self" to the detriment of the community, struggles to allow work environments like the one I was privileged to be a part of. It over-rewards chief executive officers with pay many multiples of times greater than that of their employees, even when their contributions to the collective effort are questionable at best.
The author has been a college teacher of American history and political science, the director of the US National Catholic Rural Life Conference; he served as a member of the Iowa State House of Representatives, and retired from public service in the Iowa executive branch in 2004.
I enjoyed your thoughtful commentary in Shanghai Daily of December 28, titled "Values Crucial to EMBA Studies."
Like all of your articles which I have read to date, this was a lucid and very well presented piece. I found the information Ms Zhao Lijia shared with you quite informative. I particularly liked her comments about what managers needed to do to retain quality employees, such as having a good "incentive package."
You quoted her as saying, "I learned from the course that people's desire grows incrementally. Desire won't stop at higher salaries." Precisely.
Despite our different cultures, we have in common our human nature. The best kind of work, from both the Christian and Marxist perspective, is regarded as a extension of self, as offering an opportunity for each person to add value through creative labor (mental as well as physical).
The best employees are not persons whose primary motivation is ever-higher salaries, although all persons desire (and deserve) just wages which grow appropriately over time. Rather, those employees who steadily seek to learn new skills, share collaboratively with others, and contribute to the larger mission of their enterprise are the ones to be sought out and retained.
I would like to share with you one of the greatest things I learned in my over two decades as a manager: the great value that employees can provide to how well a manager does his or her job! I made quite a few mistakes in my early years, basically because I entertained many misunderstandings of what my role actually should be.
These uncertainties, coupled with my anxiety to "perform well," led me to over-emphasize control and top-down thinking. Luckily, there were quite a few strong-willed persons under my nominal supervision who did not hesitate to offer their suggestions - often as strong criticisms - regarding "how I was doing."
It took me a while to really understand and to "get the message." But here is what I learned from them: The manager they needed (and, I think, the kind that most people want) is not a "controller."
Rather, the best manager is more like a symphony conductor, working with the employees to help adjust and balance the atmosphere of the workplace and the work itself. The best manager should respect each person for the distinct human being they are and realize that all really want to contribute and to feel valued.
Comradeship
As I really took these lessons to heart, our workplace became more infused with laughter and comradeship, and our efficiency and courtesy in delivering services to our members improved dramatically. Happy employees, who feel that they and their efforts are valued and appreciated, are great workers.
Before I left the public pension system when I retired in 2004, we had attained a No. 1 ranking in the United States (compared to other public pension plans, which all 50 US states have) when balancing the number of services we provided our members compared to our administrative costs per member. I am very proud of that, except that I did not accomplish this on my own - rather, my employees did.
Because of them, I became a coach, sometimes a cheerleader, and someone who was always leading them to compare "best practices" from elsewhere (including private businesses and other countries), so that we could steadily learn and improve.
From such collective efforts, collective, justifiable pride emerged. Any turnover among employees was due entirely to retirements or as a consequence of family units moving away from the capital city area.
I cannot adequately express the joy I had when I served with these wonderful people.
In too many instances here in the United States, management seems to be "all about" the top dog - whether governor, chief executive of a company, or manager of a work unit.
My culture, which over-emphasizes "self" to the detriment of the community, struggles to allow work environments like the one I was privileged to be a part of. It over-rewards chief executive officers with pay many multiples of times greater than that of their employees, even when their contributions to the collective effort are questionable at best.
The author has been a college teacher of American history and political science, the director of the US National Catholic Rural Life Conference; he served as a member of the Iowa State House of Representatives, and retired from public service in the Iowa executive branch in 2004.
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